Severance [DVD] [2007] [English] [Region 1]

A team-building exercise goes horribly wrong in this horror comedy, where HOSTEL meets OFFICE SPACE. A group of Brits (and a single, sexy American blonde played by Laura Harris of DEAD LIKE ME) travels through the forests of Hungary to a remote lodge in order to mix business with pleasure. Led by their manager, Richard (Tim McInnerny, BLACKADDER), the co-workers soon realize that their trip is less about trust falls and rope courses than it is about death and destruction. Someone has targeted the team, and begins to take down the cubemates one by one.

SEVERANCE is savvy and sly, but it never lets the comedy override the onscreen horror. Humor may temper the disturbing visuals, but this British comedy isn't SHAUN OF THE DEAD. It's far less flashy and a good deal darker, but it all works to great effect. This film is more in the spirit of DOG SOLDIERS, a movie with bleak gallows humor amid its blood and gore. In addition to its smart satire of office culture, SEVERANCE features stomach-churning scenes that rival the violence in films from the SAW trilogy. This film doesn't rely on A-list stars, with McInnerny vying with Harris and Toby Stephens (DIE ANOTHER DAY) for the position of most recognizable actor. But regardless of its lack of marquee talent, SEVERANCE ably mixes guts and giggles to create an entertaining and gruesome film.

4 stars out of 5 -- "SEVERANCE is a barbed and delirious satire of office politics in a comedy hat with a horror tash....SEVERANCE shines...by striking so squarely and unpretentiously at both jugular and funny-bone."Total Film

"Briskly directed....With inventive bloodletting and no small amount of wit....SEVERANCE is a lively romp through terrain less traveled than you might think."New York Times

"This British hack-'em-up might be described as FRIDAY THE 13TH with better motivation." -- Grade: B-Entertainment Weekly